Savage Messiah – Hands of Fate (Review)

Savage Messiah specialise in modern melodic metal, while combining elements of both old and new into their sound. Hands of Fate contains over 45 minutes of this anthemic, personable metal.

Full of hooks and catchy melodies, the band’s old-school influences fuel the songwriting at a base level, yet the delivery is mainly firmly of the new school, both in production and character.

There’s a rock influence in some of the riffs and structures, increasing the song-based catchiness of the overall album. The thrashier side of the band that was apparent on older material is largely absent here, with the band opting for a more mid-paced and commercial variant of their metallic sound.

The vocals are confidently delivered and full of charisma. The singer has a very good voice for this kind of work and belts out the songs with ease.

The new direction of Savage Messiah won’t please everyone, but you can’t really argue too much with the quality of the songs here. On first listen it’s obvious that this is an album that’s going to stick in the brain easily, and on multiple listens it’s impossible to get rid of it.

Fans of modern day Metallica, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Trivium, Avenged Sevenfold, etc. should find a lot to enjoy here.